* Director's Notes
* Message from Mia
* Pencil Me In:
LA EVENTS
- Harvardwood Heads To...Friends of the Signet Society Dinner, Sun., Apr. 1
- Harvardwood Heads To...Launch and Tasting for MIXTE COFFEE, Sun., Apr. 1
- NUEA invites Harvardwood to Writers' Mixer & Disney ABC Writing Program Info Session, Thurs., Arp. 5
- Harvardwood Heads To...Launch Party for LIVE ONCE, Sat., Apr. 14
- Harvardwood Heads To...LOSING CONTROL, Sun., Apr. 15
- Harvardwood Music Presents: STORYTELLERS feat. Alison Brown and Sara Melson, Wed., Apr. 18
NY EVENTS
- Harvardwood Presents: Paolo D'Anselmi on Corporate Social Responsibility, Thurs., Apr. 12
- Harvardwood Presents Mike Reiss '81: Backstage with THE SIMPSONS, Thurs., Apr. 26
BOSTON EVENTS
- Harvardwood and OCS Present: I was a Showbiz Intern (an ARTS FIRST event), Thurs., Apr. 26
OTHER EVENTS
- Harvardwood Heads To...A Conversation with Three Harvard Artists, Mon., Apr. 2 - RI
* 2012 Harvardwood Summer Internship listings now available
* Seeking hosts for the 2012 HSIP in LA & NY
* Congratulations to Harvardwood's "Most Staffable TV Writers" for 2012!!
* Calling all Summer Interns!
* Special discount for dues-current Full Members and Friends of Harvardwood!
* Harvardwood Endorses John Bowman and Michael Lynton for HAA Elections!
* Industry Successes
* Harvardwood Artist Showcase
* Featured Member Posting: Assistant to EVP of Creative Advertising - Universal Pictures
* Member Profile: Alison Brown '84
Director's Notes
Congratulations are most definitely in order for Harvardwood's "Most Staffable TV Writers" for 2012! Hollywood is certainly abuzz with this new crop, please join me in wishing them success in their exciting next steps! And with our thoughts leaning toward summer, take note that summer internship opportunities are now available for the 2012 Harvardwood Summer Internship Program (HSIP). Check out the list and get your applications in! And even if you don't obtain an internship from our specific list of opps, you can still participate in the HSIP -- click here for more information on that. We are in need of summer hosts for our hard-working interns, if you have a spare room, couch, or futon you can lend for the summer (or a portion thereof), let us know (email [email protected])! Finally, I hope you will take note of this month's profilee - the beautiful, talented, and accomplished artist/businesswoman extraordinaire, Alison Brown. Alison is traveling from Nashville to LA this April and we're excited to feature her in our next Harvardwood Music event, don't miss it!
-- Kelley
Message from Mia
It's election season once again -- no, not that one, I'm talking about the far more exciting runoff for Harvard Overseers and HAA Elected Directors! Ballots will be mailed soon, so be on the lookout for those crimson and white envelopes. Harvardwood is pleased to endorse our longtime members and supporters Michael Lynton (for Harvard Overseer) and John Bowman (for HAA Elected Director). Read on for more info on these fine gentlemen, as well as a plethora of opportunities to get your Harvardwood on this month...
-- Mia
Pencil Me In...
LA - Harvardwood Heads To...Friends of the Signet Society Dinner, Sun., Apr. 1
The Signet Society is having a 'Friends of The Signet Society' dinner on Sunday, April 1st and would like to welcome Harvardwood members to join. There will be remarks by the fabulous and talented actress Amy Brenneman of NYPD BLUE, JUDGING AMY, and PRIVATE PRATICE, as well as a beautiful performance by concert pianist Berenika Schmitz. Tom Kelly, Harvard Professor of Music and current President of The Signet Associates will be toastmaster. Cocktails begin at 7pm; Dinner will begin at 8pm @ Tiato in Santa Monica…To view full posting, please visit: http://www.harvardwood.org/events/event_details.asp?id=223828
LA - Harvardwood Heads To...Launch and Tasting for MIXTE COFFEE, Sun., Apr. 1
You, the tastemaker, are invited to an artisanal iced coffee tasting event. Join us in judging handcrafted flavors, made with fresh herbs, spices, and quality roasts from Mixte - a well caffeinated CA startup. Our team is Michelle Soohi Lee, Vanessa Lefort, Rich Acton-Maher and Helena Lee. We work on bringing delicious, inspired flavors of quality bottled iced coffee to your busy days. Farmers' Markets in LA and SF are our summer stomping grounds…(event is from 1-3pm on Sunday, April 1)...To view full posting, please visit: http://www.harvardwood.org/events/event_details.asp?id=225726
LA - NUEA invites Harvardwood to Writers' Mixer & Disney ABC Writing Program Info Session, Thurs., Arp. 5
Join the NUEA and alumni from Columbia College, Harvard, Vanderbilt, and University of Illinois for an evening with Disney! Led by ABC Director of Talent Development & Diversity, Frank Bennett Gonzalez, he will discuss numerous topics including: How do you break into network television, writing & producing for network TV, pilot season, and the prestigious Disney ABC Writing Program. The event will also include a Q & A in which current Disney ABC Program Writers will be on hand to answer questions. Be sure to come prepared to ask questions, this is an exclusive opportunity to do so, particularly when the deadline for the Writing Program application is approaching! And after the info session, be sure to stick around for cocktails and mingling! …To view full posting, please visit: http://www.harvardwood.org/events/event_details.asp?id=226131
LA - Harvardwood Heads To...Launch Party for LIVE ONCE, Sat., Apr. 14
LIVE ONCE CONSULTING aims to improve environmental harmony and inspire future generations via sustainable event planning, eco friendly fitness coaching, inspirational speaking and consulting for filmmakers. Join us for the Launch Party! …To view full posting, please visit: http://www.harvardwood.org/events/event_details.asp?id=226161
LA - Harvardwood Heads To...LOSING CONTROL, Sun., Apr. 15
Join us in seeing LOSING CONTROL on April 15, 2012 to support Harvard alumni Valerie Weiss (Filmmaker), Jeffrey Loeb (Exec Producer), Robert Johnson (Producer, Cast member) and Bitsie Tulloch (Trudy)… "This romantic comedy from writer/director Valerie Weiss features a well-assembled cast of comically gifted actors. Playful and original, the film tells the story of a brilliant woman learning to relinquish control of the future as she witnesses things go far from ‘according to plan’…Philadelphia Film Festival…To view full posting, please visit: http://www.harvardwood.org/events/event_details.asp?id=223060
LA - Harvardwood Music presents: STORYTELLERS feat. Alison Brown and Sara Melson, Wed., Apr. 18
This Spring Harvardwood Music is proud to bring back STORYTELLERS, bringing artists together to share their musical journey through conversation and song. This year Storytellers will feature intimate performances from Harvard ROCKS finalist Sara Melson and special guest Alison Brown. Alison has recorded 10 critically-acclaimed solo albums, received 4 Grammy nominations and a Grammy award for her recording of "Leaving Cottondale” (Best Country Instrumental Performance). Alison has been featured on CBS SUNDAY MORNING, NPR's ALL THINGS CONSIDERED and in the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times. She is also co-founder of the internationally recognized Compass Records Group which oversees more than 600 releases from the Compass Records, Green Linnet and Mulligan Records catalogs and which has been called by Billboard Magazine "one of the greatest independent labels of the last decade.” …To view full posting, please visit: http://www.harvardwood.org/events/event_details.asp?id=224670
NY - Harvardwood Presents: Paolo D'Anselmi on Corporate Social Responsibility, Thurs., Apr. 12
More and more corporations are issuing Corporate Social Responsibility Reports. Since most corporations would like to be perceived as socially responsible, it can reasonably be assumed that these reports have been drafted primarily to create a positive image, and that the report may sometimes be misleading or worse. However, there's good news: It is actually possible to learn quite a lot about a corporation from its CSR Report, more than the report's authors ever meant you to know, if you understand what to look for and how to interpret it. Paolo D'Anselmi teaches Corporate Social Responsibility at the University of Rome Tor Vergata, Italy. He is a graduate of the Kennedy School…To view full posting, please visit: http://www.harvardwood.org/events/event_details.asp?id=225038
NY - Harvardwood Presents Mike Reiss '81: Backstage with THE SIMPSONS, Thurs., Apr. 26
Mike Reiss will give a backstage tour of THE SIMPSONS--great anecdotes and backstage gossip from his years at THE SIMPSONS and other cartoon shows, illustrated with rare video clips. Reiss has won four Emmys and a Peabody Award during his twenty-one years writing for THE SIMPSONS. He ran the show in Season 4, which Entertainment Weekly called "the greatest season of the greatest show in history.” In 2006, Reiss received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Animation Writers Caucus…To view full posting, please visit: http://www.harvardwood.org/events/event_details.asp?id=224116
BOSTON - Harvardwood and OCS Present: I was a Showbiz Intern (an ARTS FIRST event), Thurs., Apr. 26
Come hear from your fellow peers about what it's really like to work in the entertainment business! Get tips on how to find your first opportunity, what different jobs are like, and how to make a great first impression…To view full posting, please visit: http://www.harvardwood.org/events/event_details.asp?id=225078
RHODE ISLAND - Harvardwood Heads To...A Conversation with Three Harvard Artists, Mon., Apr. 2 - RI
The Harvard-Radcliffe Club of Rhode Island invites you to join filmmaker Laura Colella ‘91, sculptor Tory Fair ‘91 and novelist Dawn Tripp ’90 on Monday, April 2 from noon to 1:30pm over lunch at the Providence Art Club to hear how Harvard shaped their decision to become an artist. Each will present video, slides or a reading of her work, followed by a question and answer segment…To view full posting, please visit: http://www.harvardwood.org/events/event_details.asp?id=225650
2012 Harvardwood Summer Internship Listings now available
We are happy to announce that the 2012 Harvardwood Summer Internship Program (HSIP) list of opportunities is now available! For more information please visit: http://www.harvardwood.org/?page=hsiplistings
Seeking hosts for the 2012 HSIP in LA & NY
Harvardwood seeks accommodations hosts for the 2012 Harvardwood Summer Internship Program (HSIP). The HSIP provides a list of summer internship opportunities in the arts, media, and entertainment to interested Harvard students. In addition, HSIP facilitates career-related activities throughout the summer for participating students and companies in NYC and LA.
Because several of these internships are unpaid, many HSIP participants are in need of accommodations to help defray the costs of accepting these opportunities. If you have a spare couch, futon, sleeping bag, or room(s) you can provide to a student or students for an extended period of time this summer (most internships run from mid-June to early August) please let us know!
In addition to our undying gratitude, you will receive a free year of Full Membership to Harvardwood and you will be invited to attend special HSIP activities. Hosts are NOT expected to provide transportation, meals, entertainment, etc.
If interested, please email us at [email protected]. Thank you very much in advance for your help.
Congratulations to Harvardwood's "Most Staffable TV Writers" for 2012!!
Neal Baer, Peter Blake, Terence Carter, Amy Retzinger, and Nicky Weinstock are among the A-listers pitching in to mentor new voices from the Harvardwood TV program this spring. Five writers have been selected for the 2nd annual list of Harvardwood’s Most Staffable TV Writers. A panel of 22 industry professionals selected these writers based on their original TV pilots completed during the Harvardwood Writers Program this past fall…This yearʼs winners are (listed alphabetically by author): Jonathan Bird, REFUGE (one-hour drama); Efrain Cortes, NEW YORK WEEKLY (one-hour drama); Warren Hsu Leonard, STREET LEGAL (one-hour drama); Alison McKenzie, BONDED (one-hour drama); and Matt Roller, PUBLIC DEFENDERS (half hour comedy). Each writer will receive one-on-one mentorship with an industry professional….To view full posting, please visit: http://www.harvardwood.org/news/86887/CONGRATULATIONS-TO-HARVARDWOODS-MOST-STAFFABLE-TV-WRITERS-FOR-2012.htm
Calling all Summer Interns!
Calling all summer interns for this year's Harvardwood Summer Internship Program (HSIP)! If you are interning and/or working in any facet of entertainment this summer let us know! Please fill out the HSIP participant form so we may stay in touch with you regarding HSIP events and activities. You do not have to have an internship that was listed on the HSIP list of opportunities. All summer interns affiliated with Harvard University can participate! In addition to being eligible for all HSIP activities, you will also have the opportunity to enter our HSIP housing lottery for the summer…Please sign up before May 15 to be eligible, the lottery results will be announced in late May…To view full posting, please visit: http://www.harvardwood.org/news/87353/Calling-all-Summer-Interns.htm
Special discount for dues-current Full Members and Friends of Harvardwood!
Our dear friends at the Hotel Shangri-la have offered a special "thank you" to the Harvardwood community. All dues-current Full Members and Friends of Harvardwood will be offered 10% off the full bill of their next event at the Hotel! (Offer expires Sept. 1, 2012.) To view full posting, please visit: http://www.harvardwood.org/news/85175/Special-discount-for-dues-current-Full-Members-and-Friends-of-Harvardwood.htm
Harvardwood Endorses John Bowman and Michael Lynton for HAA Elections
A quick reminder to all Harvardwood members - don’t throw out your Harvard Alumni Association ballot! The HAA ballots are due back soon and we ask that you consider voting for longtime Harvardwood supporters, John Bowman (nominated for Elected Director) and Michael Lynton (nominated for Overseer). Read a little bit about each gentleman below...
JOHN BOWMAN '80, HBS '85
John Bowman is an Emmy-winning television writer and producer. Currently an Executive Producer at the Disney Company, he began his career working for Saturday Night Live, where he won an Emmy Award for his work during the 1988-1989 season. He has worked on shows such as MURPHY BROWN, IN LIVING COLOR, and IT'S GARRY SHANDLING'S SHOW.
He has used his business skills to help the careers of other writers. A former board member of the Writer’s Guild of America (WGA), he negotiated contracts for writers and studios during the most recent writer’s strike. He recently served as co-chair of its 2010 Contract Negotiating Committee.
While at Harvard, he was a writer for the Lampoon and remains involved in its operations as a trustee. He also served as chairman of its Centennial Celebration. He was a member of his College Class Reunion Gift Committee, served as a board member of the Harvard Club of Southern California, and is a longtime member of Harvardwood.
"Harvard played an important role in my life. My wife and children are graduates, and I cannot imagine having the career I’ve had without having attended Harvard. I think it is important work, keeping alumni connected to one another. I have tried to do this locally, and I would welcome the opportunity to serve the Harvard community on a national scale.”
He and his wife, Shannon Gaughan AB ’81, have five children, including twins Johnny AB ’11, HBS ’15 and Courtney AB ’11.
MICHAEL LYNTON '82, HBS '87
Michael Lynton is the Chairman and CEO of Sony Pictures Entertainment where he has helped guide the studio's global operations as it has been impacted by digital technology. He grew up mostly in Holland. After attending Harvard College and Business School, he spent half his working life outside the United States. Previously he was the President of AOL International and the CEO of the Penguin Group, the second largest English language book publisher.
He has a strong commitment to the arts and has served on the boards of the Public Theatre of New York, The National Book Awards, and the LA County Museum of Art. He has a keen interest in public policy and is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and is on the board of the Rand Corporation and is a Presidential appointee to the Broadcasting Board of Governors, which oversees the Voice of America and Radio Free Europe.
An alumni interviewer of students applying to Harvard, he serves as co-chair of his 30th Harvard College Class Reunion Gift Committee. He was recently awarded the John Harvard Award for Outstanding Community Service by the Harvard Club of Southern California.
"Harvard was a transformative experience for me and helped me establish lifelong friendships. I am interested in participating in Harvard’s digital transformation with particular emphasis on the creative process. Nurturing the creative spark with financial discipline is central to what Harvard must do to be innovative and maintain academic excellence."
Michael is married to Jamie Alter and has three daughters.
Industry Successes...
Mark Saltveit '83 won the first World Palindrome Championship, hosted by Will Shortz, in Brooklyn on March 16th. He narrowly defeated U. Minnesota Professor John ("Eva, can I stack Rod's sad-ass, dork cats in a cave?") Connett, author/illustrator Jon ("Go Hang A Salami, I'm a Lasagna Hog") Agee, and MIT Professor Nick ("2002: A Palindrome Story") Montfort. Saltveit's winning palindromes -- written on the spot to meet Shortz' constraints -- included "I tan. I mull. In a way, Obama, I am a boy -- a wan illuminati" and the crowd favorite "Devil Kay fixes trapeze part; sex if yak lived."
MARIA MY LOVE, written and directed by Jasmine McGlade Chazelle ‘07 and starring Academy Award nominee Karen Black and Independent Spirit Award nominated actress Judy Marte, will be available on demand nation-wide beginning April 17. The film, which premiered at the 2011 Tribeca Film Festival, has won/ been nominated for numerous awards. To view press and a trailer, and to find out where you can see the film, please visit www.mariamylove.com. To purchase the film on iTunes please follow this link: http://itunes.apple.com/movie/maria-my-love/id512155092?vo=9988&ign-mpt=uo%3D1 - Please help spread the word to your friends and family. Thank you!
Karen-Eileen Gordon is recurring on the new original STARZ drama MAGIC CITY, set in 1959 Miami Beach and starring Jeffrey Dean Morgan. Gordon plays FLORENCE, long-time executive assistant to Morgan. The show has been renewed for a second season, and resumes filming in Miami this summer. Series debut is Friday, April 6th at 10 p.m. on Starz. Link to the TVMA trailer: http://www.starz.com/originals/MagicCity/Videos#/magic-city-trailer---tvma-version
Harvardwood Artist Showcase
Each month, the Highlights is proud to feature one or two artists from some of our various programs in the Harvardwood Artist Showcase. Click below to learn more about what they do!
Harvardwood Music artist Rachel Efron recently finished recording her third album, PUT OUT THE STARS, at premier recording studio Fantasy Studios in Berkeley, CA with producer Jeffrey Wood. It features such talented musicians as drummer Dawn Richardson (Tracy Chapman, Four Non-Blondes) and bassist Paul Olguin (Mazzy Star, Shana Morrison). Rachel will begin release shows on both coasts in April 2012, including headlining shows at Club Passim (Cambridge), The Tin Angel (Philadelphia), Sidewalk Cafe (NYC), One Longfellow Square (Portland), Freight and Salvage (Berkeley), Paschal Winery (Ashland), and a special performance and forum for aspiring DIY musicians at Harvard's ARTS FIRST Festival. (For a complete tour schedule go to http://www.rachelefron.com/news).
Rachel’s music is alt/pop/jazz and has received high critical acclaim, including San Francisco Chronicle's David Weigand who called it "deeply poetic songcraft" and San Francisco Examiner's Chris Patrick Morgan who wrote, "Maine expat Rachel Efron combines a light, gentle touch on the piano with the eye and the voice of a poet to make some of the loveliest music one has heard -- soft, intimate, ethereal, and strikingly genuine."
Learn more about Rachel at -- http://www.rachelefron.com.
Featured Member Posting: Asst to EVP of Creative Advertising - Universal Pictures (LA)
Universal Pictures is seeking an assistant in the creative advertising group of Marketing. ROLE PURPOSE: The Creative Advertising department oversees the A/V and print campaigns for all of Universal Pictures theatrical releases. The individual in this position will multi-task, interact and coordinate with other employees in the department as part of a creative team reporting to the EVP and Head of Creative Advertising…To view full posting, please visit: http://www.harvardwood.org/networking/opening.asp?id=121878
Member Profile: Alison Brown '84
by Sara Melson
I ring the doorbell of a quaint craftsman-style house off of Music Row in Nashville, and a young intern lets me into the magical world of Compass Records (named "one of the greatest independent labels of the last decade" by Billboard Magazine). From its inception in 1994 by Alison Brown '84 and bandmate/husband Garry West, Compass has steadily established itself as the premier independent record label for folk music, with releases ranging from the award-winning bluegrass of the Gibson Brothers and Dale Ann Bradley to banjo prodigy extraordinaire Noam Pikelny and the largest current catalog of classic Celtic music in the world from the famed Green Linnet and Mulligan catalogs, which Compass acquired in 2006 and 2008 respectively. Alison takes me on a tour of the house, which it turns out was home to the notorious "Outlaw" group in Nashville in the mid-70s. The Outlaws––Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, Jessi Colter, and Tompall Glaser––were, as Alison puts it, "cool before it was cool."
Alison leads me upstairs to the studio, where Jimmy Buffett recorded his first album. It takes my breath away: A large room encased all in wood, with high, beveled ceilings, a beautiful grand piano, an upright, a vintage organ, three iso-booths, and a large control room. "You'd think I'd spend all my time in the studio," laughs Alison. "But instead lately I'm spending all day in my office in front of a computer." Indeed, Alison Brown is an accomplished bluegrass musician who has been releasing records of her own music for twenty years, but with the formation of Compass, she says that her own music has taken second fiddle, so to speak, to the album releases of the artists on her label's roster. "With over 200 releases on Compass, only five have been of my own records," she says. "There aren't many artist-run labels that are putting out other people's music. I'm in the weird position of advising other artists about records and watching how the marketplace is changing and also being an artist, so one thing informs the other. So part of me might say to myself, if I've made 9 records, do I need to make a 10th? But on the other hand, if you're an artist, that's what you do, is you keep making music.” In fact, Alison’s band, a unique hybrid of banjo, piano, bass and drums, recently played the large Country Gold Festival in Japan and served as musical ambassadors to the city of Kamakura to start a sister-city relationship between Nashville and Kamakura.
A unique blend of artist and businesswoman, Alison uses her background and perspective in both music and business to more deeply and cohesively understand the ins and outs of running and maintaining a successful label. After graduating Harvard undergrad in 1984, she got her MBA from UCLA and took a job as an investment banker at Smith Barney. But after a few years, a banjo-playing gig with Alison Krauss led her out of her investment-banking career and onto a very different path. "How I got from A to Z, in my case,” she says. "I was a banjo player, not a singer and not a songwriter, and so I never thought that banjo could be something that I could even think about doing professionally. There really wasn't any model for making a career in playing this music. There hadn't been anybody to come out of bluegrass and sell a lot of records. It was just something you did for fun… It was very much ‘niche’ music. So my parents, who were both lawyers, encouraged me to think of banjo as an excellent avocation to talk about at cocktail parties, when I was hopefully a doctor or a lawyer… The music thing kept pulling at me though. I had gone straight from undergrad to business school, so I was still young enough to feel like I had all the time in the world. So I quit my job and started trying to write music.”
Alison started guitar at 8 years old, and banjo at 10. As a teenager, she became active in the Southern California bluegrass scene, playing in various bands, notably with fiddle prodigy Stuart Duncan, with whom she then recorded and released a record while still at Harvard. A mutual friend introduced her to Alison Krauss in Nashville. Alison (Brown) had an idea to form an all-female bluegrass band. "At the time women weren't as present in bluegrass music. Anyway, I approached her about it. She was sixteen at the time. I came to Nashville and we met, and although that project never happened, when she later needed a banjo player to replace her current guy, she asked me to do it. That's really what got me from San Francisco to Nashville. If that hadn't happened, I may not have gone back into banking, but I probably would've done some other 'legitimate' career."
Alison played with the other Alison for three years, then went on to tour as bandleader for Michelle Shocked's band during the promotion of her record, ARKANSAS TRAVELER. "I was still being pressured at that point by my parents to go to law school and was seriously considering it. Right at that moment, Michelle called. That's how I met Garry. I brought him into play bass, and we spent a year traveling all through Europe, Canada, Australia, and the US, playing together. We had this business plan we drew up on a cocktail napkin in Stockholm called "The Good Life." It was this wheel that had different spokes off the core: Starting a record company, publishing, touring, starting a family…It was this 360-vision of what we wanted to do. We didn't really know what having a record company meant. I was then recording with Vanguard, had a four-record deal with them and was two records into it. We just thought it would be cool to start our own label. Then in Australia, we met these two brothers who had a didgeridoo record under their own label, NATURAL SYMPHONIES. They asked us to distribute their catalog in the US. That was the catalyst.
"When I got back from the trip, I had a letter from a Harvard Business alum whom I had met at the one Harvard Club function I had attended in Nashville. He had heard an interview on NPR I had done. He remembered hearing about the investment banker / banjo player story. He was retiring from his job and thinking about what his next venture would be, and offered his help with capital. He put the seed money in, and that's how it happened. It was one of those magical angel situations. That's where Harvard came in. The three of us are still partners. We simultaneously built the label, and built the touring band, and started on the family part of it. Work is hard, but you might as well work at something that you like. My heart has always been in folk music and roots music, and it's always been about admiring the people who are really true artists, not just these commodities that the labels just dress and tell them how to sing, how to act, what to wear… To me our music is lifestyle music, and that music is fashion. Our demographic wants someone to help steer them to something that's cool, so when Melissa Block at NPR says this is cool, they'll be drawn to it.”
From the studio next door come the strains of a record being mixed by Compass's in-house engineer. In the PR room, two interns intently type away at their Macs, papers piled high, stacks of posters for Compass' various artists laid out in the hallway. In the mailroom, a tall, bearded man in jeans sorts packages, wrapped and ready to go out. And in the stockroom, boxes of meticulously labeled CDs line shelves from floor to ceiling. Alison’s four-year-old son Brendan patters in and deposits a lego gift onto the table for Mommy, then runs out. This is a well-oiled machine, humming with activity and efficiency, but it also feels like a home. This is what true success looks like. This is indeed "The Good Life" that Alison and Garry envisioned together, sketched out on that napkin in Stockholm years ago. A dream manifested, a circle whole and unbroken, every spoke a part of the wheel.
As a special gift for all Harvardwood members, Alison has offered a FREE EP from the Compass Records group, featuring music from Alison and other Compass artists. Download the EP here AND be sure to check her out live at the House of Blues on April 18th!!
Sara Melson is a singer/songwriter (Nettwerk Records) based in Los Angeles.
DISCLAIMER
Harvardwood does not represent or endorse the accuracy or reliability of any of the information, content or advertisements (collectively "Materials") contained on, distributed through, or linked, downloaded or accessed from any of the services contained in this e-mail. You hereby acknowledge that any reliance upon any Materials shall be at your sole risk. The materials are provided by Harvardwood on an "AS IS" basis, and Harvardwood expressly disclaims any and all warranties, express or implied.